11/09/2014

Sunday morning, final day in Uganda, a day filled with both excitment to see my children (and never having to use a squat toilet again) and sadness at leaving this remarkable place.

Uganda is a country of such beauty and promise. We have never once felt unsafe or threatened here, just warmly welcomed and though we are sad to leave, the Canadians have much to be proud of: a fully functioning library, the only one in any school in this town, with a full time librarian and a full time English teacher; a renovated, clean and bright computer room (though there are only 2 functioning computers so far), a music room that is unique for any highschool in the area.

Perhaps most of all, we are proud to have helped 9 year Ishamail, the boy we found selling bananas to help support his family and pay his school fees. He came for a visit yesterday with his mother and two younger siblings. The whole family will be moving to the Kalule's family compound, given a place to live and the children will be enrolled in school. Ishamil dreams of becoming a doctor and now, perhaps his dream will come true given the family will be leaving that awful Kampala slum.

We took Ishamail to Cambridge Secondary School for a tour and he immediately fell in love with the drum kit in the music room.There was such unbridled joy on that boy's face when we placed the sticks in his hands.

Last night, we had a huge gathering of friends and family, ate a roasted turkey. We brought the cranberries from Canada, Ev did the stuffing, Mitch made the gravy and carved the turkey then the rest of us chowed down.

This past month has been without question, the most extraordinary time of my life and it all started when, in 2012, I visited Cambridge Secondary School and the kids from the Suubi group performed for me. The bond was set and I hope it will never be broken.

Our filmmakers, Paul Campsall of MetaMedia, Waterloo and Paul Francescutti, returned to Canada last weekend and have already started piecing together the Dream for Uganda film, which will be the featured film at the Nov. 2015 Grand River Film Festival. We will also be bringing a group of performers from Suubi to Waterloo Region so stayed tuned.

11/08/2014

Saturday morning, 7 am and the house is quiet, leaving me with time to contemplate all that has happened now we are getting ready to leave this remarkable place. Driving through Kampala last night, amid the crazy traffic jams, the thousands of cars squeezed into a city with no more than half a dozen traffic lights and a few stop signs that no one pays attention to, I thought this was the perfect metaphor for life in Uganda.

The Ugandans will sit at an intersection, inching forward with cars coming at them from every direction in unofficial lanes of three or four cars deep, plus those crazy boda bodas (motorcycle taxies) yet no one is angry, no one beeps in frustration and there is no road rage. This is the typical Ugandan: faced with a situation that would cause the average Canadian to fly into a hissy fit of "why isn't someone doing something about this" they simply deal with the situation, with patience and good humour.

We have all learned so much from the Ugandans who are unfailingly polite and kind and happy. Life here is very difficult with everyone working from dawn until well beyond the time when most Canadians are sitting in front of their big screen TVs. In the home where we have been staying, the house helper, a teenager named Rabina, is up just before dawn to start preparing for the day. She will cook and clean and wash dishes all day long (there are usually about 10 of us in the house) and she will still be working when we all go to bed around 11 p.m. Rabina sleeps on an old metal bed in the garage and we have not heard a peep of complaint.

Esther, one of the kids from the highschool, is here too, having volunteered to wash the clothes for all the Canadians given no one here will let us lift a finger to help out. I have taken to putting my clothes in a big pan in the shower and stomping them clean while showering, as if I'm stomping grapes for wine. At least I feel like I am doing something to help myself.

When Esther cleans clothes, she does it in the back courtyard, bent over a bucket filled with soapy water. Everything is done by hand here, much of it backbreaking.

Everyone works equally hard, even the highly educated people, most who seem to be under- or un employed. The teachers at the high school are mostly part time because the school cannot afford to pay full time so they take several jobs. A teacher with at least an undergrad degree working full time is lucky to make the equivalent of $100 a month.

Somehow, the kids learn and do well in their exams, particularly in the hard academic subjects such as math and physics.

Our organization, Dream for Uganda, has hired an English teacher and a librarian for the school (total salary about $350 monthly for both) to help them improve reading and writing skills in a country where though English is official language the English teacher is only here 9 hours a week for all 250 students. He can't do much in such a short amount of time.

In Waterloo Region, we have a couple of people working on securing university and high school scholarships for students from here but we need to bring up their writing and grammatical skills.

11/05/2014

The crew took a little break on the weekend, heading into the stunningly beautiful northwest corner of Uganda, to a place called Murchison Falls National Park.

First stop on the way was Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, home of a handful of the few remaining Ugandan rhino in the world. They are so protected, each rhino has an armed guard 24 hours a day and the sanctuary is surrounded by electric fence.

It was extraodrinary, being able to walk past a rhino grazing meters from where we stood. Only one female got a bit aggressive so we moved on, quickly.

The resort we stayed in, Murchison Falls Resort, was beautiful. In the morning we would have our coffee sitting overlooking the Nile River.

Sunday afternoon we visited the top of the spectacular falls which is where the Nile squeezes into a 7 meter rocky gap before spilling into the river below. What an awe inspiring sight: rainbows and mist and boiling water everywhere.

Monday we crossed the Nile in a ferry and did a half day safari in the van where we saw many animals: elephant, giraffe, cape buffalo, three types of antelope and of course lots of hippo. Monday was a boat tour to the bottom of Murchison Falls, were we got very close to a Nile crocodile.

This trip really inspired me to see more of this beautiful, wild country. Next visit, I'm heading to the south.

10/31/2014

We are rallying ourselves this morning, getting ready to go on a four day safari and though I am very excited about the trip, my ankle is still a problem so it is unlikely I will be able to walk far. My hike up Murchison Falls will have to wait for another year.

On the upside, I have to praise the medical care here. Though the clinic was a bit shabby, my doctor and nurse were excellent and after two visits, plus two injections of antibiotics and a local when the doc cleaned out the wound PLUS they sent me home with painkillers and more antibiotics, the whole bill came out to 50,000 UGX, that is $20.66 Canadian.

10/30/2014

While everyone else is at the school with the kids today I am stuck at home, my ankle bandaged up and my foot so swollen it resembles a fat little Easter ham. On Monday while visiting a remote village it seems I managed to hit a nail with my ankle, so hard it pierced the skin and went to the bone.

It didn't really hurt much, until Wednesday when I felt very feverish and our host family decided it was time I went to the doctor.

Luckily, their family doctor agreed to see me right away, so off I went, a limping, whining Canadian who really didn't want to go but obviously the injury was very infected.

The clinic is nothing like at home. The rooms were dark, largely because the power had gone out and we had to wait for the genertor to click in. The exam tables just had grey sheets and the walls were very dark and grubby looking but the doctor and nurse were wonderful. They used gloves and new, sterilized needles so I felt safe. The nurse gave me a huge dose of antibitics through a needle in the back of my hand and I didn't feel a darned thing.

Before my turn to see the doc, a child of about 6 was in getting needles, screaming, wailing and crying as if he was being tortured. I told Ann that I would be brave and not scream quite so loudly. After all, the reputation of an entire country was at stake. Heaven forbid there would be any sniggering about the big crybaby Canadian.

Did not really need to muster much courage though because the nurse and doctor were very gentle and gave me a local anestheic so there was no pain, despite the doc opening the wound with a blade and poking around in the hole to make sure there were no foreign objects in there.

I have to go back this afternoon for another round of antibiotics and then afterward, a series of antibotic pills.

Having this injury made me realize how Canadians do NOT have the market on saying "sorry."

Everytime someone sees my bandage they immediatly say 'sorry' even if its total stranger. Ugandans have this need to make everyone happy which is also why you often don't get a straight answer to any question.

Recently:

"How far is the school from here?"

"Oh just behind the house"

Of course the school was 1/2 an hour away, over a very rough dirt road.

I asked about this curious habit and was told it's because Ugandans hate to disppoint you so they tell you want they think you want to hear, even knowing you will find out the truth.

It is a nice little national quirk to have I guess, though it also means it's tough to get as straight answer.

10/28/2014

Monday morning, rise just after dawn in the home of Jonah and his family, in a solid concrete house with no ammenities located about 30 minutes from the nearest village and a three hour drive from Jinja. The house is surrounded by beautiful trees loaded with papaya and flowers.

Catherine and I had stayed with family and the rest of the team stayed in a guest house in village an hour away. Our accomodations were spare, to say the least. Photo is of the bedroom, just a bed in a concrete room with an open ceiling and in the night I could hear bats squeaking.

The outhouse was a squat toilet which I have yet to master. It's really hard for girls to aim.

In the middle of the night we could hear dogs in full voice, in some sort of eerie, primal howl. Jonah explained in the morning the locals take their dogs out to an island in the middle of the river every morning before dawn to chase away wild animals, mostly monkeys. The locals have extensive gardens on the island and spend the day tending the crops. There is much land in Uganda but so many people, farmers have to find any available space to grow and the big sugar producers have been gobbling up prime growing land.

Jonah had contacted me through our Dream for Uganda site several months ago to tell me about the school he founded, Green Hills Primary which started in a rented, barn-like room and is now in a building they own, large enough to accomodate nearly 400 children, 11 teachers. Recently the school was recognized as a top school academically.

What is most remarkable about this school is how the whole community came together to raise money, make the bricks and build the structure, all to make the dream come truey.

photo is the first school, with Jonah, the founder

We had visited the family of one boy who had shown such promise that Cambridge Secondary School offered him a full bursary so he could complete high school. The boy's family lives in a compound in the bush, a collection of four huts and the father was so grateful to us for educating his son, he insisted we accept the gift of a live chicken. And so a pursuit ensued.

At least a dozen people were chasing this rooster across the compound, through the bush and around the huts until our rooster made the fatal mistake of dashing into a building. A few minutes later, the family was handing me a live chicken, its legs trussed up.

I don't think Canada customs will let me bring my new pet home so we gave Jonah's family the bird we had dubbed Cluck Kent (after his Superman-like attempt at escape).

We then visited a second family in another compound, this time to meet a 14 year old girl who will be receiving her first pair of shoes, first mattress and her school fees will be paid for by Green Hills, allowing her to go to school.

The girl lives with her father, his two wives and several children plus other relatives, for a total between 30 and 40 people living in six huts.

The girl is very bright and a talented athlete so Cambridge Secondary School will be accepting her once she is ready for high school. There is an emphasis on educating girls which is wonderful in a place where girls are often married off at 12 or 13.

Photo is of the girl in front of the hut where she lives

After visiting the community, it was off to Green Hills and wow, what a reception. Nearly 400 kids ran toward our vans, screaming in excitement and when we emerged, we were mobbed.

Green Hills has been able to accomplish a great deal, partly thanks to donated funds from Driftwood public school in Kitchener and they wanted us to thank them. Driftwood teacher Heidi Sproul had contacted me offering to help with Dream for Uganda but I put her in touch with Jonah and it has been a highly successful relationship.

Photo is of one of the documentary filmmakers, Paul Francescutti, planting a tree. Catherine and I were also invited to plant a tree: mine was a Valencia orange.

We are off this morning for an interview on national radio and perhaps a meeting with the education minister.

10/24/2014

The guys showed up this morning to start replacing the floor in the library and what a horrible job. It was at least 30C today, a blistering sun and the poor guys had to use a pick axe to break up the old floor first then they hauled up bag after bag of sand and cement, up three flights of stairs yet when I showed up with a camera they were all smiles.

That is a Ugandan for you.

We had a meeting today and the family we are staying with (Mrs Kalule founded the school) have decided to offer young Ishmail and his mother a place to live here at the house so he can go to a local school and get away from that awful slum. His mother will have her own, large room for her family in behind the main house, with big windows and lots of sunlight. The family will also give her a job working on the farm (which feeds the kids at Cambridge school) and helping around the school, so she can take care of her children,

We will invite her to come see us next week. Fingers crossed she will accept.

Heading to Jinja in the morning, at the mouth of the Nile River (where I stayed in 2012) I can't wait to show the rest of the team that wonderful place

10/23/2014

Wednesday 7 am, nine year old Ishmail rouses himself from sleep, climbing over his mother and two younger siblings who are all sleeping on the floor of their tiny, one-room hovel in a slum outside Kampala's city centre. He slips on a dirty t-shirt, slides his feet into a pair of shoes that are so broken down there is no resemblance to actual shoes but at least he is ready to head to the wholesale banana sellers.

Today Ishmail will not be able to attend school for he must sell bananas to the tourists and business people who congregate at the royal palace, a 90 minute walk from his home.

Ishmail knows he is the man of the house after his father abandoned the family and his mother's tiny wooden shop was knocked down by developers. He is their only source of income, a responsbility Ishmail takes very seriously so every week he must miss two days of school to sell bananas. This is a terrible situation for Ishmail as he is desperate to for an education. Ishmail plans to be a doctor and up until today, that dream seemed impossible.

When he can go to school, Ishmail does very well, he is motivated and he is smart. Even in his banana business Ishmail has learned good business practices, attracting regular customers and in two days he can earn the equivalent of $20 to pay school fees with a little extra to help with the rent for his mother.

Up to now, life has been desperate and hopeless for Ishmail, at least until this morning when something extraordinary took place.

The Canadians had arrived at the royal palace for a tour and first witnessed a group of young theives looking for opportunity. Ishmail however, just wanted to sell his bananas and when he was approached by the Canadians he shared his story, without self-pity and with much hope.

Thirty minutes later, the Canadians and Ishmail were tromping through the filthy, narrow laneways of the slum to visit his mother and his school: a wooden structure with three stalls more suited as a cattle barn.

Ishmail's mother is shocked at seeing these Muzugus standing in her doorway but she is welcoming and speaks of how important it is for her children to receive an education even though she has never been to school herself.

Justine, the teacher/librarian from Cambridge Secondary School, is with the Canadians. She is a woman with a huge heart and immedidatley falls in love with this little boy. With the Canadians' financial help, she will now make sure Ishmail gets into a better school where he will receive the education he so desperately seeks, without having to miss days to sell bananas. And when he is old enough, Ishamil will be offered a bursary so he may attend the Cambridge school.

This was a day the Canadians were scheduled to meet with government officials, meetings that were cancelled at the last minute but it was time that allowed them to meet Ishmail and change the life of one small boy.

Ishmail (in the orange tshirt) his teacher and Justine (on the right) in their school

10/21/2014

Ev purchased a toaster for the house yesterday so this morning was the inagueral run. Our two house helpers were fascinated. They had never seen one before and couldn't believe a little machine could do that to bread.

We spent much of the day in the library today, boxes and boxes and boxes of books on every subject imaginable. Lots of kids came to help and it was wonderful to see them pulling titles out of boxes, looking at covers, reading the jacket and showing genuine interest. They then asked if they could take a book and of course, I encourage them to take what they wanted. Perhaps we will have a generation of readers in Uganda after all. Tonight at dusk, all the kids in the Suubi performing arts group came to the house and again rehearsed in the yard, pulling Zac and Bryan (both 6 footers) into the dance and they did well. Turns out white guys can dance!

10/20/2014

Apparently, it's the rainy season here in Uganda. All day today it has been pouring rain with a few breaks so we can dry out enough before the next deluge. Even my eyeballs are wet but it has not stopped the work on the music room which I have to say is awesome. The electrian completed his work Sunday, adding electrical outlets and new lights, for the equivalent of about $150.

We also had a solid mahogany door installed for about $95 and glass installed in the window panes for less than $50.

Today we moved all the musical equipment into the room and at 5 pm, Zac, Bryan and Mitch conducted their first drum and guitar class which was interesting given we have one drum set and about 50 kids in the class. The guys taught the kids how to drum using their fingers on their desks though this could be habit forming, I expect there was more than one kid in the dormitory tonight who was threatened with explusion if they didn't stop that infernal pounding on the furniture.

I taught my first full creative writing class and once again, these kids just went for it once I got them started with writing. They have had no previous experience with expressing themselves with words but they have proven an untapped creative source just waiting to be freed.

I had them write about their experiences at home as children and explained the concept of non fiction so one kid finished his story with "so this is my non-fiction"

Everyone once in awhile, while they were busy writing, I would step out in

to the outdoor hallway and gaze across the rooftops, to the hills of Uganda in the distance and think 'now THIS is a classroom view."

Reporter Valerie Hill returns to Uganda, this time with library supplies, instruments and five volunteers plus a film crew who will be documenting the work being done for the Cambridge Secondary School’s performing arts program.